WASHINGTON – House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH) today announced that the committee would begin a series of outside-the-Beltway field hearings next week on education reform.  The bipartisan hearings, which will begin next Friday, will be held in Florida, Georgia, California, and possibly other locations in the coming weeks as Congress prepares for legislative action this spring on President George W. Bush’s number-one priority. 

            “Federal education policy should focus on serving the most disadvantaged students in America and closing the achievement gap so that every child learns,” Boehner said.  “As we begin the process of fulfilling that goal, the committee will travel to different school districts around the nation to find out how their innovative ideas have improved student performance.”

The first hearing, “Flexibility, Accountability, and Quality Education,” is scheduled for Feb. 16 at an elementary school in Bradenton, FL.  The second hearing, “Reading and Accountability: Improving 21^st Century Schools,” is set for Feb. 20 at an elementary school in Atlanta, GA.  An additional hearing is planned for Feb. 26 in California, the home state of the committee’s ranking Democrat member, Rep. George Miller.  Exact times, locations, and witnesses for the hearings will be announced in the coming days.

“These field hearings will examine accountability standards, annual testing, flexibility, and improving reading skills -- all key components of President Bush’s plan to improve America’s education system,” Boehner said.  “President Bush made it very clear that bringing Democrats and Republicans together to improve education is his number one priority.  We’re anxious to begin that work, and these field hearings will be our starting point.”

            The Florida hearing will examine the system implemented by state and local officials to improve accountability in public education.  President Bush’s proposal calls for states and schools to have more flexibility in administering federal education dollars in exchange for more accountability and providing better information for parents to measure the progress of their children’s schools.  States will develop annual assessments in reading and math for students in grades three through eight.

How to improve reading skills for children is the topic of the Georgia hearing.  To encourage success in reading, President Bush has proposed making funds available for states to design research-based reading programs in the early elementary grades and for low-income preschoolers.